Comparison between unilateral PNIF and rhinomanometry in healthy and obstructed noses

Abstract

Aims: Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow (PNIF) is an easy method to assess nasal patency. Normative unilateral PNIF data in adults have been proposed. The study purpose was to compare PNIF and unilateral PNIF values to total and unilateral nasal resistances measured by anterior active rhinomanometry (AAR) in subjects with and without nasal obstruction to see whether unilateral PNIFis sensitive to detect nasal obstruction. Methods and results: Measurements of PNIF, unilateral PNIF and AAR were performed in 125 volunteers. Seventy of them were healthy subjects not complaining of nasal symptoms and entered into the study as the'normal' group. The other group consisted of fifty-five symptomatic subjects.Data were analysed to show the correlation between PNIF, unilateral PNIF and nasal resistances. The ability of PNIF and AAR in predicting pathologies were compared by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis indicating that PNIF and AAR have a similar and significant power to discriminate pathologic from healthy subjects. Conclusion: The measurement of unilateral PNIF could be a helpful method to support the diagnosis of nasal blockage also in those cases with single nostril obstruction, but, in cases of doubt, AAR should also be performed to improve diagnostic accuracy.